Birthday girl

I've mentioned before that birthdays are a big deal around here.  The birthday girl (or boy) gets to pick what kind of cake she wants and also what she wants for dinner.  I felt really bad this year for Gillian's birthday, because life was really crazy and I didn't manage to make her requested meal for her birthday.  We eventually had what she requested, about a week later.  We did have cupcakes on her actual birthday and a fabulous birthday cake a few days later for her party, so I hope that made up for it somewhat.  (It didn't help that Gillian's birthday was on a Thursday, and as I mentioned in my last post, Thursdays are somewhat difficult around here.)

Gillian's isn't the only October birthday in our family.  My youngest sister's birthday is tomorrow.  And one of my cousins was on the 21st.  I have friends with birthdays on the 12th, 13th and 14th (which G shares).  I just made cupcakes for my boss's little boy, who turned 1 on the 22nd.  And I recently discovered that one of our favorite cookbook authors, Dorie Greenspan, celebrates her birthday today!

One of my blogging friends, Holly, had an absolutely wonderful idea.  She and Laurie (our fearless leader) asked a bunch of us TWDers who have also joined French Fridays if we'd like to help celebrate Dorie's birthday.  I'm not sure what Dorie's favorite cake is or what she would pick for her birthday meal.  So we've picked for her. =)  It's probably safe to say that she likes all the recipes in Around My French Table, so we've chosen a variety from all sections of the book and are sharing them with you today.  It's like a giant progressive dinner party!

My recipe come from the "Salads, Starters and Small Plates" section of the book.  I picked the Spinach and Bacon Quiche (which can be found on page 160).  I actually made this before I made the mustard tart that I just posted.  This was my first experience making the tart crust recipe from the book--the dough is lovely to work with.  It turned out great, though I did have a bit of trouble with the crust shrinking during baking (even though I froze it for several hours beforehand).  I'd recommend using weights when blind-baking it.

The filling calls for fresh spinach to be steamed.  I don't have a steamer, so I had to find another solution.  I put the spinach in a large bowl with a tablespoon of water, covered it and microwaved it for several minutes until the spinach wilted.  (I think you could use thawed frozen spinach instead if you want.)  The hardest part of this recipe is squeezing all the liquid out of the spinach.  Talk about a workout for your hands! =)  Next, you cook the bacon in a skillet.  Again, I didn't quite follow the directions.  I cut my bacon into small pieces first, then sautéed it until it was crisp.  Once the bacon is done, you cook onion and garlic in some of the bacon drippings until they're soft.  Then the spinach and bacon are mixed in.

The whole mixture goes into the partially baked tart shell.  The last part of the filling is a custard mixture made of eggs and cream.  I added a bit of nutmeg, as well, since I thought it would go well with the spinach and cream.  (I should have added more--I couldn't detect it in the finished tart.)  Before it heads to the oven, the tart is topped with finely grated Parmesan cheese.  My tart was puffy and golden brown in 26 minutes.

The verdict?  Jamie and I both loved this quiche.  I'm not a big egg person, and this tart is perfect for that.  There's more "stuff" than custard in the filling, and a nice amount of crust, too.  I'll definitely be making this one again, and I can't wait to try some of the other quiche recipes in the book.  Even though it's listed as a starter, we actually ate the quiche as our main course, with salad on the side.  The leftovers are good for breakfast, too.  I knew the girls wouldn't like this one, so I saved it for a night when I fed them early and Jamie and I ate after they went to bed.  Below, you can find a rare glimpse into my crazy life--where the food sometimes ends up after it's carefully photographed. =) (yes, that's the coffee table...)

Head on over to Holly's blog for a full round-up of today's dishes.  I hope you'll visit all of the other people who came together for this birthday celebration.  Happy birthday, Dorie!

Sometimes you feel like corn...

...sometimes you don't.  And I have now determined conclusively that I do not like actual corn in my cornbread.  In the past I've avoided it, figuring I probably wouldn't like it that way.  But the next bread in the BBA Challenge was cornbread, including actual corn, so I figured I'd finally give it a try.  Since it's a quick bread, the batter doesn't take all that long to mix together.  You do have to plan ahead a bit, though, since the recipe calls for coarse cornmeal (polenta) that has to soak overnight.  The cornbread also has bacon on top.  Reinhart recommends cooking the bacon in the oven, and that's my usual method anyway.  It's nice to be able to do a whole batch at once and not make a big mess of the stovetop.  One thing I do recommend is completely lining your sheet pan with foil to make clean up a lot easier.  The batter is made with the standard muffin method--combine dry ingredients in one bowl, wet in another, then combine the two.  I decided to make muffins--a dozen, since I only have one muffin pan--and used an 8" round pan for the rest of the batter.  I heated the pans in the oven, added a bit of the bacon fat, added the batter, and put everything in the oven.  Oh, and I did add corn to the round pan, though not to the muffins.

The verdict?  Big failure on this one.  The muffins had leavening issues, I think.  They ended up with divots in the middle.  And they tried to stick to the pan, though I was able to pry them out intact.  The round pan was a total disaster.  I think the pan wasn't hot enough (plus the only pan I had was shiny aluminum, and I think a dark pan would have worked much better).  The cornbread stuck in the middle, so I ended up with a ring of soggy cornbread.  Yuck.  I did sample it, and as I mentioned above, I definitely don't like corn in my cornbread.  Gillian seemed to like the muffins okay.  She ate one and part of another.  Brianna mostly picked the bacon off the top of hers and left the rest.  Jamie thought the cornbread was okay, though not great, but he eats almost anything. =)  I ate a muffin and wasn't impressed.  Just not my cup of tea, I guess.  I prefer my cornbread sweeter, and despite containing white sugar, brown sugar and honey, this cornbread was not particularly sweet.  I'm fairly certain I won't be making this one again.

Others had a lot more luck with this recipe.  Head over to the BBA Challenge blogroll to see how everyone else is doing with the challenge (the main group is well past the cornbread).  And check out Nancy's blog sometime soon for a cornbread round-up from the Slow and Steady sub-group.